Collapsible asphalt machine



15, J. M ck. SPEARS 291361869 COLLAPSIBLE ASPHALT MACHINE Filed Oct. 22, 1957 v 2 Sheets-Sheet l 2 Z. I l W a -3 JM 332/ 26 Patented Nov. 15, 1938 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

, I 2,136,869 COLLAPSIBLE ASPHALT MACHINE Joseph MacKay Spears, Washington, D. 0. Application October '22, 1937, Serial No. 170,497

' 2 Class. 1(01. 259-164) V This invention relates toasphalt machinery and has special reference to portable asphalt mixing machines.

In the mixing of asphalt material such as is used in the building of roads and the likeit is common to take weighted quantities of broken stone and asphalt and pass them through a mixing device such as a pug mill in order that the stone and asphalt may be thoroughly mixed. In stationary plants the stone and asphalt are usually stored in elevated bins or hoppers from which they are gravity fed to weigh boxes located above and emptying into a pug millor other like device. The apparatus thus is necessarily of considerable height and cannot, unless special provision is made for the purpose, be transported on railroad carsor the like.

It is one important object of the present invention to provide a novel arrangement of portable apparatus of this character which is so constructed that it may be carried from place to place on ordinary railroad flat-cars, the apparatus being telescopically collapsible for transportation.

A second important object of the invention is to provide a portable, flat-car mounted hopper having a frame so constructed and arranged that the hopper may be held raised when the apparatus is in use and lowered when being transported from one location to another.

With the above and other objects in view, as will presently appear, the invention consists in general of certain novel details of construction and combinations of parts hereinafter fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings and particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings like characters of reference indicate like parts in the several views, and

Figure l is a side elevation of a portion of a portable asphalt mixing plant and showing those parts which relate particularly to the present invention in position for use,

Figure 2 is a similar view but showing the parts in position for transportation, and

Figure 3 is a fragmentary horizontal section on the line 3-3 of Figure 1.

In the embodiment of the invention illustrated in the accompanying drawings there is shown a platform l consisting of a fiat-car body of the usual railroad type and this platform is supported in the usual manner on trucks ll.

Mounted on the platform is a mill l2 suitable for mixing aggregates and binders such as crushed stone and asphalt, the mixing mill here shown being of the usual type of pug mill. No attempt has been made to show the construction of the interior of this mill but it is to be noted that the mill has an open top l3. Surrounding the mill is a lower frame including a series of vertical angle iron cornermembers l4 arranged at the corners of a rectangle and having their lower ends securely anchored to the platform It. The upper ends of the members l4 are braced together by girt members l5. An upper frame is also provided which has four angle iron corner members I6 slidably mounted within the angles of the members It as clearly shown in Figure 3. This frame is telescopically arranged with respect to the lower frame. Through the lower ends of the members l6 and the upper ends of the members l4 extend bolt openings which may be brought into alinement upon the upper frame being raised to its upper position and bolts I! are then removably fitted in these openings to hold the frames releasably together.

Fixed to the upper ends of the members 16 is the upper rectangular portion I8 of a hopper [9 having a downwardly extending tapered body 20 which is attached thereto by means of bolts 2|. The bottom 20 is open at its lowermost point and is provided with a suitable closure 22.

Connected to the girt members I are plates I5a to which are bolted the lower ends of supports Ifia having plates 161) secured to their upper ends, which plates are secured to the rectangular hopper portion 18 by certain of the bolts 2|.

When set up for use a weigh box 23 is interposed between the hopper l9 and the mill l2 to receive aggregate from the hopper l9, weight the same and then discharge it into the mill I2 when the closure 22 is placed in open position. A similar weigh box 24 receives charges of asphalt binder through a pipe 25 from a suitable supply tank 26 which, in the present instance, is mounted on a second fiat-car 28 adjacent the flat-car Ill. From the weigh box 24 the asphalt binder is emptied into the mill l2 to be mixed with the aggregate. An elevator 21 conveys aggregate to the hopper H] from a suitable source of supply which, in the present instance, is the discharge end of a rotary drier 29 mounted on the car 28.

When in use the various parts of the apparatus are in the position shown in Figure 1, but the height of the device is then such that it cannot be transported by rail. Because of the structure illustrated and described herein, however, it may be collapsed vertically so as to be readily trans- 2 m A A ported, which collapsing operation is accomplished in the following manner:

The weigh boxes 23 and 24 and the elevator 21, which are removably connected to the main structure are first detached and stored on the car 28. The lower ends of the braces l'6a are then unbolted from the plates l5a, and the plates l6b are unbolted from the sides of the hopper portion H3. The bolts H are next removed from the overlapping ends of the corner members l4 and I6, a suitable hoist, as indicated at l9a, being used for supporting the hopper [9 during that operation and for lowering the same, with its supporting frame, after the removal of these bolts. This lowering operation is then'carried on until the lower portion 20 of the hopper rests within and is supported by the mill I2. This lower portion 20 is then disconnected from the hopper portion I8 by removing the remainder of the bolts 2| after which the portion I8 is further lowered by the. hoist, the supportingmembers l6 sliding within the supporting members l4 until their lower ends rest on the platform IE]. The entire structure will then have been reduced in height to such a degree as to permit of ready transportation, as shown in Figure 2. When restoring the parts to position for use, the foregoing operations will be reversed.

What is claimed is:

1. In a portable mixing apparatus for producing asphaltic mixtures, a wheel supported platform, a mixing mill mounted on said platform and having an open top, a hopper comprising upper and lower portions alined vertically above said mill and adapted to be moved into raised and lowered positions, a set of vertically disposed frame members fixed to said platform in quadrilateral form about said mill, a second set of similarly arranged frame members slidably engaging the first set, said second set being fixed to said hopper, and means to secure the second set in raised position to the first set, said hopper having its lower portion taperingly reduced to rest within the open top of the mill when the hopper is in lowered position, said hopper having its lower and tapered portion detachably bolted to the lower part of the upper portion whereby the upper and lower portions may be telescopically nested when the device is collapsed.

2. In a portable mixing apparatus for producing asphaltic mixtures, a wheel supported platform, a mixing mill mounted on said platform and having an open top, a hopper comprising upper and lower portions alined vertically above said mill and adapted to be moved into raised.

and lowered positions, a set of four vertically disposed angle irons fixed to the platform at the corners of a rectangle within which said mill is located, said angle irons facing inwardly of the rectangle, a second set of fourvertical angle irons having the hopper fixed to their upper ends, and fitting within the angles of the first set, and releasable means connecting the lower ends of the second set to the upper ends of the first set, said hopper having its lower portion taperingly reduced to rest within the top of the mill when the hopper is in lowered position, said hopper having its lower and tapered portion detachably bolted to the lower part of the upper portion whereby the upper and lower portions may be telescopically nested when the device is collapsed.

JOSEPH MACKAY SPEARS. 

